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Raphael and Uriel each are formally linked to the identical three religions in this atlas: Christianity, Hermeticism and Judaism. Raphael is also the subject of this atlas's own essay on how three church traditions read him, Anglicanism, the Church of England and Lutheranism, all keeping Tobit as read but not doctrinal. That essay does not touch this convergence, and this one does not revisit that argument. It asks a different question: why do the same two archangels reach the same three religions at all, and by the same route each time or by different ones.

Judaism, One Source Fewer

Raphael's own Judaism note states he "is named in the Book of Tobit and in the Enochic literature of the Second Temple period." Uriel's own note names only "the Enochic literature of the Second Temple period." Both trace to the same Second Temple Jewish sources; Raphael simply has one more of them, the narrative role in Tobit that Uriel never held.

Christianity, a Text Against a Cultus

Raphael's Christian foothold is textual: he is "named in the Book of Tobit, canonical in the Catholic and Orthodox churches," the same book whose disputed doctrinal weight across the Anglican, English and Lutheran churches is this atlas's own separate subject. Uriel's Christian foothold is not textual at all. His own note reads only that he "is venerated as an archangel in Orthodox, Ethiopian and Anglican tradition," despite appearing in no canonical book of either Testament, only in the apocryphal Book of Enoch and 2 Esdras. One archangel reaches Christianity through a book whose canonical status itself varies by communion; the other reaches it through liturgical veneration with no canonical text behind him at all.

Hermeticism, One Scheme, Two New Offices

Both Hermeticism links carry the identical note: "One of the planetary, elemental and sephirotic archangels of the Western esoteric synthesis, the scheme by which this atlas classifies the type." Neither archangel's Hermetic office comes from Tobit or from Enoch. The scheme built each one a new post from Renaissance planetary and elemental correspondence: Raphael becomes the planetary archangel of Mercury, governing "mind, intellect, communication, commerce, movement, and the arts of healing and learning," invoked on Wednesday; Uriel becomes the elemental archangel of Earth, "the bringer of light into the darkness of the material world," standing opposite Raphael in the Golden Dawn's own compass, robed in citrine, olive, russet and black rather than Raphael's airy correspondences. Two figures, one shared scheme, and offices built to stand opposite each other rather than independently of each other.

Where To Read More

• RaphaelPlanetary ArchangelsReaches Christianity through a canonical text of disputed doctrinal weight; reaches Hermeticism through a wholly new Mercurial office
• UrielElemental ArchangelsReaches Christianity through liturgical veneration with no canonical text at all; reaches Hermeticism through a wholly new Earth office standing opposite Raphael's